Pan American Trip: Week Ten, Island Fun and Waterfalls

Week 10

Belize

May 25^th – May 31^st

(John and Wallace on the dock @C.C)

Day 64, Mon.: ‘Parrot Nest’ Bullet Tree, San Ignacio, Belize

It is holiday in Belize and we decided it would be best if we didn’t try and travel to the islands until Tuesday. We hung around ‘Parrot Nest’ (the place we have been camping at… wonderful place!) practiced a bit of yoga, did our laundry, swam in the river, and did some journaling and blogging. One of the dogs here at the Parrot Nest recently had a litter of 10 puppies so Wallace enjoyed frolicking with the little guys. The better part of the day was mostly spent relaxing, later in the day Kindra got out all her jewelry making supplies and worked with Theo’s daughter and little friend making necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Of course as everyone watches the process they ask her if she can make something for them. Jasmina, one of the girls staying at the ‘Parrot Nest’, really liked one of Kindra's necklaces and purchased it from her. Our new friend Skip was also interested in some of the turquoise pieces Kindra had in her stock and commissioned her to make him a necklace. It turned out beautifully and is testament to her “on the spot” jewelry making skills. That night we made a batch of ‘sopa de fideo’ for everyone, it was a big hit and everyone really liked it (Thanks for the recipe Chuck/Dad!).

Day 65 & 66, Tues. & Wed: Caye (pronounced ‘key’) Caulker

On Tuesday we packed up to go to Caye Caulker (a small island off the coast of Belize) for the next couple of days. Skip was nice enough to give us a ride all the way into Belize City, so we were able to leave the truck and camper at Parrots Nest…Sweet! Before leaving San Ignacio we stopped at the local French bakery and picked up some breakfast pastries, cinnamon buns, cheese croissants, and a loaf of sourdough bread for the trip. It was about and hour and a half drive from San Ignacio into Belize City, where Skip dropped us off right at the ferry station and we said our goodbyes as he would be returning to the states for a month before retuning to Belize to live permanently. (Thanks again for everything Skip, we’ll miss ya). The next ferry out to Caye Caulker left at noon so that gave John an hour to buy some local produce on the street (mame fruit, an avocado, and some other small local fruit), while Kindra and Wallace sat in the nicely air conditioned water ferry station. We boarded the boat… our second water journey of the trip. The ferry from the city to island was about 45 min long and very beautiful. Heading out towards the island we passed off-shore mangroves and reefs along the way. When we got to the Caye, we were greeted by a slew of men offering places to stay and golf cart taxis, all of which we turned down. We had a couple of places recommended to us to stay but had to investigate whether or not they would allow us to stay with Wallace. The first hostel we stopped at called Tina’s Backpackers hostel turned our little travel companion down and we headed down the road to another spot called Bella’s. The girl at Bella’s initially said they did not allow pets but after a little convincing that Wallace was a well behaved boy and we were responsible pet owners, she agreed to let us stay. Bella’s had a communal kitchen, with a fridge, cable TV and 2 shared bathrooms and showers. Another bonus of this hostel was free access to two canoes that we could paddle around the island and then snorkel anywhere our hearts desired. After we got settled we strapped the little boy’s life preserver on and paddled down to the split of the island where we did some snorkeling/swimming. Caye Caulker used to be one island until a hurricane split it in half, on the northern part of the island, where now a host of marine life lives and there is some good snorkeling. We found a spot on the edge of a cement structure to tie up the canoe. The structure was only about 10 feet tall and it looked as though it was some sort of wall or walkway before the hurricane came through and knocked out parts of it. Not only did it make for a great place for people to bath on, but it was also an artificial reef for a bunch of the fish. We were just out in front of a touristy bar where there are benches in the water for people to sit on. One of the local Garifunas (African population) was putting dead fish in his mouth and letting the birds swoop down and grab it. He offered for other people to come down and do the same, but they just held it in their hand. After being around fresh water for the last few weeks it was a bit of a shock to get a mouthful of the super salty ocean water. We both agreed that so far we prefer the tropical lagoons and rivers of Belize and Mexico to the salty ocean. After paddling the canoe back to Bellas, we walked down to the local grocery store to buy some supplies for dinner, lunch and breakfast for the next morning. We used the communal kitchen to cook up some dinner, relaxed and watched a movie on…..that’s right cable TV; it was a nice treat as we have not seen any TV in months.

(disembarking the Caye Caulker Ferry)

(Our cabana @ Bella's on C.C)

(paddling around to the split on Caye Caulker free canoeing!)

The next morning we took Wallace out for a walk into the small town center and John got a cup of coffee at a little restaurant. We walked down the beach and through a small nature preserve, where some replanting of native plants and flora was taking place. After the walk John bought some fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon, orange, and papaya) from a local woman who had it all cut up and ready to eat for breakfast. We spent the afternoon taking turns watching Wallace, snorkeling, napping and swimming. The water on the Caye is crystal clear, and both of us were able to see lots of tropical fish, star fish, sting rays and we kept our eyes out for the reef sharks that live by the split… no luck though… although maybe that’s a good thing! Even though they don’t hurt you it still freaks us out. Wallace enjoyed hanging out in the shade all day. We had a simple little lunch of bread from the French bakery, cheese and the local brand ‘Marie Sharps’ corn chips and habanera hot sauce. We seem to eat hot sauce these day’s like salsa. After coming back from the beach that afternoon we both showered and relaxed a bit before going to the store again for some supplies for dinner. We only brought a small amount of cash so we had to go with Mac n Cheese! We cooked dinner again at the hostel and watched a movie on TV. As we are on such a budget, “going out” in the evening is not really an option for us and we were content to just relax and chill at the hostel. Kindra made friends with some girls who had been traveling in Guatemala prior to Belize, and they all exchanged stories about traveling, dogs and bug bites. We both got more bug bites on the island than anywhere else on the trip so far. That night we had a bit of an interesting experience. In the middle of the night around 2am we were awakened by a strange shifting and movement of the Cabana we were staying in. Now normally this would have been cause for some real concern, but the night before we were awakened by a similar movement that we determined to be the couple in the room next to us “getting it on”. So we just thought it was a repeat of the first night and went back to sleep. Well, when we woke up the next morning the girls Kindra had been talking to the night before asked us if we felt the “earth move” last night? I said I had but I was sure it was the couple in the room next to us. We came to find out that it actually was a large earthquake on the mainland, hardest hitting in Honduras. Apparently the tremor was rather strong on the mainland of Belize as well. When we returned back to the Parrot Nest, Theo told us her whole house swayed for closed to 60 seconds!!! There is a crack on their ceiling that they don’t remember seeing there before.

(the split @ Caye Caulker)

(the view from the beach @ "the split" on C.C)

(John eating his new favorite fruit, mamae)

(Kindra w/ the local chips Marie Sharps)

(nice underwater shot @ the split C.C)

(Wallace likes the hammocks here too!)

(the sunset behind Bellas on Caye Caulker)

Day 67-70, Thur.- Sun: Bullet Tree, San Ignacio, Belize

We packed up on Thursday morning and caught the 10am ferry off the island back to Belize City. It was a hot day and when we arrived back on the mainland we promptly caught a taxi to the bus station and made it just in time to hop on the bus to San Ignacio. We boarded the bus and tried to relax during the ‘stop and go’ ride back to the Parrot Nest. The bus ride was anything but direct, as we stopped along the way to pick up and drop off other passengers and at one point picked up a whole load of students at the end of their school day on their way home. When we arrived back in San Ignacio, a friendly cabby took us by the produce market where we picked up some groceries on our way back to Bullet Tree (the small town where the Parrot Nest is located). It was nice to have the afternoon and daylight to get organized and rinsed off all the salt that still remained on us from the island, in the river (Even though we took showers on the island, the water that we showered with was even slightly salty so you never really felt clean). Some other guests had arrived at the ‘Nest’ while we were away and we sat and chatted with them before cooking dinner.

(our home for the last 2 weeks, oh so nice!)

Friday we went into town in the morning, after doing some Bikram Yoga and a little swim in the river. We found a local Pizza restaurant that had free wifi internet and we ordered pizza (Our first time eating out since we have been on the trip). The food was great and after a half an hour or so of getting the wireless connection up and running, we managed to post the blog, respond to some emails, and do some couch surfing for Guatemala. While Kindra worked on the online stuff, John ran into a nice couple from Israel, Itai and Aviv, who are doing almost the same trip as us! The guy struck up a conversation with John about the truck and they got to talking, as it turned out they too were couch surfers and were looking for our contact Marcus and needed directions to the Parrot Nest! Among other similarities they too had stayed a couple of nights at Barton Creek Outpost (we were there a week ago) and they had also spent a night at ‘The Bosque” (Eco-community) in Mexico, just days before us. We got to talking and decided we would all caravan into Guatemala in the next couple of days. Before leaving town John walked up to the market for some fresh produce. That evening, Itai and Aviv made some delicious pasta sauce and we boiled some pasta noodles, grilled up some zucchini and garlic bread and all had dinner together.

( our new friends Itai and Aviv on our tubing excursion)

The next morning we did our morning Yoga together and went for a swim in the river. We (Itai, Aviv, Kindra and John) all went into town for the Saturday morning market where we all bought some produce, fresh peanut butter, and papoosas for lunch. We also filled our propane tank and stopped off for water before heading back to the Nest. This took most of the morning and afternoon so when we returned Kindra worked on drilling some holes in local seeds we have found here on the property, and John cleaned, organized and did some repairs on the camper. We all got our bathing suits on and decided to do a little tubing down the river… how relaxing and refreshing! The river flows at just the right speed; you get the maximum amount of tube time with a minimum amount of walking to get back to the house. That night Itai and Aviv cooked us all dinner. They made a delicious fresh vegetable/ginger stir-fry and rice, how nice to have someone cook for us 2 times in one day. We were happy to do the dishes as a trade off!!!

Sunday morning we (Marcus, Itai, John and Kindra) had ourselves a small Yoga class at 7:30. We did a Bikram series together and then swam in the river (again!). After some time lapsed photography of hair cutting on Itai and Marcus (Itai has a really nice camera that he did it with) Marcus, John, Kindra, Itai, Aviv, Theo, Chleo and Wallace all headed out to ‘Big Rock’ falls for lunch and swimming. Since it was a tight squeeze with everyone in Itai and Aviv’s 4 Runner, Marcus and John stood outside the car on the running rails and held on to the roof rack the rest of the way to the falls. Once again the falls were beautiful and we were happy to get to experience them a second time (with us being the only ones there). On our way back we stopped at the popular ‘soy’ ice cream shop that is only open 4 days a week for a few hours in the late afternoon. It was delicious! Kindra got orange and vanilla (like a creamcicle) and John got chocolate and vanilla soft serve. Yum!!! We got back to around 6 pm, and started to cook dinner in the camper for the CS’rs (Couch Surfers) as Theo’s kitchen was in use for her 8 other guests staying in rooms. And boy does it gets hot in the camper when you cook! After dinner, Marcus put up the “movie sheet screen” and we watched Monsters vs. Aliens, very funny!

All together the last couple of weeks here in Belize at Barton Creek and the Parrot Nest have been awesome. We have been so blessed to be invited to stay here and both feel so lucky to again be surrounded by such giving, peaceful, and loving people. It’s another example of our how our encounters with truly amazing people have enriched and made our trip so special. We look forward to traveling into Guatemala with our new friends, and waving a fond farewell to all of the friends we have made in Belize.